Product differentiation - How much are customers willing to pay for their brand

This bachelor's thesis examines the issue of product differentiation. The theoretical part represents the current state of knowledge, it is mainly focused on the strategic behaviour of companies in product differentiation, recognizing their advantages and disadvantage and especially their impact on consumers' willingness to pay for their preferred brand. Furthermore, the specifics of the non-alcoholic carbonated soft drinks market are discussed, which primarily include the existence of the dominant duopoly of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo and many other smaller companies with significantly lower market shares, as well as the fact that the products are differentiated for consumers. Based on the results of a literature review and a questionnaire survey following the thesis to the conclusion that, from the point of view of market typology, the market of non-alcoholic carbonated soft drinks belongs to imperfectly competitive markets, it is a modified model of a dominant duopoly with a monopolistic competitive fringe. In the empirical part, a questionnaire survey and an experiment aimed at evaluating the hypothesis that the products in the non-alcoholics carbonated soft drinks market are differentiated for customers, using the examples of Fanta drinks and non-branded orange drink. Furthermore, the hypothesis that consumers are willing to pay extra for their preferred brand is tested. The results suggest that the products in the non-alcoholic carbonated drinks market are perceived by consumers as differentiated. Heavily promoted brands create the impression that they are of higher quality and taste, justifying consumers' willingness to pay premium prices for branded products.